The Last Frontier of Governmental Cynicism: Sweep the Sidewalk or Pay a Fine

The government of Guadalajara has decided to innovate in tax collection with a measure worthy of the colonial era: if you don't sweep the sidewalk in front of your house, you get fined. Thus, Mayor Verónica Delgadillo turns what is a constitutional function of the municipality into a citizen's obligation, with the elegant detail that if you don't comply, you get the stick.

Let's not forget: cleaning is a municipal public service according to Article 115 of the Constitution. That is, municipalities must take care of keeping streets and sidewalks in good condition. But in Mexico, where the culture of loopholes is more ingrained than mole on the tablecloths of diners, the government found a brilliant way to make you pay twice: first, they charge you the property tax (because it turns out that owning something warrants eternal tribute), then they appropriate the sidewalks without compensating the developers, and to top it off, they force you to clean the public road that is now their property. A genius of public finance couldn't have planned it better.

This is not new, it's simply Mexican governmental logic taken to its ultimate consequence. It's the same thing that happens with public health: the IMSS takes money from you every month to provide a service that, in practice, is so deficient that you end up paying for a private consultation. The same with justice: they force you to solve disputes in private arbitrations because the courts don't work. And now, with the sidewalks, the message is clear: the State is an inefficient burden, but it will never give up the right to empty your pockets.

Some defend this with a kind of nostalgic "Chespirito" sentiment: sweeping the sidewalk is a beloved tradition, like Abuelita chocolate with bread or the posadas with their respective "come on Juana, don't delay". They paint it as an act of civility and good manners, as if it weren't a blatantly imposed obligation by the government. It would be different if the fine were for littering the public road: there, indeed, is a punishable conduct. But the simple fact that leaves fall from a tree and you don't pick them up... well, guess what: fined!

The underlying problem is that the very concept of "sidewalk" in Mexico is already flawed. In many countries, the pedestrian area may or may not be part of private property, depending on its design. In Guadalajara, however, the developer hands over streets and sidewalks to the municipality without receiving a dime in return. But magically, the municipal government comes back and tells you: "let's see, raise it a little, what's yours is mine, but what's mine isn't yours and if you don't sweep, there's a fine".

The solution, of course, is not the medieval occurrence of imposing duties on government property and fining the subject who doesn't obey. If the municipality can't do its job, it should charge for cleaning as an additional service, not as a punishment. It should tender private companies for sidewalk maintenance, incentivize efficient urban cleaning systems, and, in any case, reduce taxes if it is going to transfer its responsibilities to the citizens. But what can't be allowed is this "double charge" where the State pockets the money and then wants to make taxpayers work for free.

If the government doesn't want to do its job, it should at least have the decency to stop charging for it. Or better yet, municipalities should disappear, because if their great contribution to society is to put their hand in the citizen's pocket to make them do their job... well, we would certainly save a good amount of money by eliminating them.